Just Another Ordinary Girl
by daleklover
Summary: Tanya Rivers in a normal 16 year old girl living in the small town of Burgess. Everyday the same as the last. But one night while baby-sitting, everything changes. Jack FrostXOC
1. Chapter 1

_**Sam Sam Sam. Why oh why are you starting another fanfiction? You've already got two others under your belt. What makes you think you can handle a third? Nothing that's what. But here it is anyway so ta-da and enjoy! WARNING! I'm new to the ROTG fandom so please be nice and make all criticism constructive!**_

Tanya was a tall, pale, freckle faced, 16 year old girl. She had shoulder length red hair that was always in a ponytail and large, light blue eyes. It was a snowy day outside and she was baby-sitting a five year old, dark skinned boy named Adam while his mother was in the hospital giving birth to his new brother Steve. Adam was a small, lithe boy with a shaved head and large, cinnamon coloured eyes. Adam and Tanya were outside, playing in the snow. Adam was making snow angels, covering the back of his red parka and green snow pants in snow. Tanya was starting the snowman, building the bottom half. She pushed her blue snow boots through the snow, the ball becoming bigger and bigger. Finally, she stopped, grinning at her handy work. The girl wiped some of the snow off her black gloves and onto her blue parka. She turned to tell Adam but saw he was talking to the air to the right of him.

'Hey Adam. Who ya talking to?' Tanya asked, crouching down, careful not to get snow on her black skinny jeans.

'Jack Frost. Can't you see him?' Adam asked innocently.

'Jack Frost? No hun. I can't.' Tanya said, amused at his childish fantasy. Adam turned for a sec and whispered to the air. Tanya couldn't make out what he was saying.

'So, you don't believe in Jack Frost?' Adam asked sadly.

'No. I haven't really believed in that stuff since I was like, ten.' Tanya said, a little sad. 'But if you believe in him, I bet he's real.' She said with a smile. Adam smiled back. 'So, how about it kid? You wanna make Frosty's head?' Adam nodded and rushed to make the head while she made the middle. Eventually, they got their parts done. Tanya put the pieces together while Adam got the carrot for his nose. Tanya lifted him up so he could draw in the mouth and eyes with his finger and then stuck the carrot on. Both kids stood for a moment to admire their handy work.

'Can we have hot chocolate?' Adam asked, looking up at Tanya. Tanya nodded and went to the door, opening it for him. After they were both in the house, Tanya closed the door and took off her parka to reveal a grey turtleneck. She kicked off her boots and went to the living room to set up the TV for Adam while he took off his snow gear. After turning on the TV, he ran into the living room, wearing black sweats and a red jersey. Tanya started heating up the milk and while the milk was being heated, she grabbed a box of Nutter Butters and gave them to Adam. After the milk was heated, she added the hot chocolate powder and went to give it to Adam. They sat and drank hot chocolate while watching Spongebob.

Tanya checked her iPhone for the time. 7:30 pm. 'Time to get ready for bed Adam.' Tanya said, getting up and grabbing the cups. Adam obediently went upstairs to get changed and brush his teeth. Tanya cleaned the cups and put them away. Then she went upstairs to check with Adam.

'Done?' Tanya asked him when she knocked at the door. 'Yeah!' Adam yelled. Tanya opened the door to the dinosaur plastered room. Adam was in his footie dinosaur pyjamas and holding up to her a Captain America book. She grabbed the book and he jumped under his green comforter. Tanya read him the story and was about to leave when Adam called out, 'Wait!'

'What?' Tanya asked.

'Can you check under the bed for Pitch?' Adam asked fearfully.

'Pitch?' Tanya asked.

'The Boogeyman.' Adam said, bring the comforter up so only his eyes showed.

'There's no such thing.' Tanya said, obliging.

'You said if I believe, then it's real.' Adam rebutted.

'That only applies to Jack Frost.' Tanya said from under the bed. Adam heard a sharp intake of breath.

'Tanya?' Adam asked.

'Oh. My. GOD! It's…it's…' Tanya said fearfully. Adam leaned over to her and she popped up into his face. 'The biggest dust bunny I've ever seen!' Tanya laughed. Adam glared at her for a moment but smiled and laughed alone with her. She got up to leave and Adam said, 'Wait!'

'Yeah?' Tanya asked.

'Can you check in the closet?' Adam asked. Tanya nodded and went over to the closet. 'Nothing but us dinosaurs.' Tanya said, throwing him a T-Rex. 'Did you know that the Boogeyman is scared of dinosaurs?' Tanya asked. Adam shook his head. 'Well, he is. So Mr T-Rex will protect you.' Tanya said, turning off the light. The dinosaur nightlight lit up the room and she left the door open a crack. The boy curled up and fell asleep. What he didn't know was that Pitch had been in the room the whole time, hidden in the shadows.

'Don't believe in me huh? Well, we can change that.' Pitch said wickedly. Then he moved through the shadows downstairs to where Tanya was, doing her history homework.

'Who cares about American politics in the 19th century?' Tanya grumbled under her breath. Pitch stood behind her, dusting some nightmare sand over her.

The words swam in front of the page, making less sense than before. Tanya rubbed at her eyes and fought the drowsiness suddenly overtaking her. She folded her arms in front of the book and leaned closer. Then, her head fell onto her book.

It was all dark. It was neither hot nor cold or in between. It just was. Then, she heard a voice, her voice.

'There's no such thing. Did you know that the Boogeyman is scared of dinosaurs?' Tanya heard herself say. Then, in the corner of her eye, she saw two glowing yellow eyes. She turned to face them.

'I'm hurt. I really am. Saying I'm not real. How offensive.' A voice said in a mock tone, the eyes slanting.

'Who…Who are you?' Tanya asked, slightly frightened but knowing the answer.

'I think you know.' The voice responded. Then, the eyes disappeared. Tanya looked around for them, walking backwards into a tall, solid form.

'Boo.' He said. She whipped around and saw a tall, grey man wearing a long, billowing black robe. His eyes were yellow slants and when he grinned at her, she saw many pointed teeth. Like a shark's mouth. Just like that though, he was gone. She felt a presence behind her.

'Tell me Tanya, what's your greatest fear?' he whispered in her ear.

'You're the Boogeyman. You tell me.' She quipped.

'Feisty. Well, you are right. I do know it. Your greatest fear is that you will live a boring, mundane life. That nothing exciting or remarkable will ever happen to you and you'll be stuck here in Burgess for the rest of your life.' Pitch replied boredly.

'You're good.' Tanya said, a hint of fear creeping in.

'No, I'm bad.' He said back with a smirk. Then, he disappeared. The darkness gave way to an older version of her in 20 years' time. She worked in a cube in an office building. Her vibrant red hair had become dull and limp, tied back into a sad ponytail. She wore dull black office clothes that had seen better days and her blue eyes were tired and blank.

Fast forward and she was in a boring cul-de-sac in a cookie cutter house. Her husband was the blandest man on the planet and her kid modelled him. Tanya looked on helplessly as this sad woman walked and talked, bearing her name but not her. Tanya screamed, wanting the woman to hear her, to knock this woman out of her stupor.

She woke up with her head on the history book and the sound of tiny feet coming toward her.

'Tanya, what happened?' Adam asked sleepily. Tanya checked the clock. It was half past 10.

'Just a bad dream. Sorry to wake you. Go back to bed.' She said, getting up to bring him to bed.

'It was Pitch! He is real! He is!' Adam said fearfully.

'No honey, it was just a bad dream. Go back to bed.' Tanya said with a small smile. She left the door open a crack and went back downstairs. She couldn't believe it. Pitch was real.

Outside, a boy with white hair and icy blue eyes watched her through the window with a worried look.

Intending to talk some more with Adam, he had returned to see Pitch standing over the baby sitter. She tried to fight sleep but lost. She seemed calm for a while and he was impressed that she wasn't frightened. But as soon as Pitch left, her face scrunched up as if she was having a bad dream. Suddenly, she shook her head vehemently and screamed, waking up.

He didn't know if he should tell the other Guardians. It didn't prove a hell of a lot. It'd been a couple years. Nothing could've happened yet. So he'd watch and wait.

At midnight, while she was trudging through her history homework, she got a call from Adam's dad, Mr Bridge, asking if she could stay overnight. There had been complications and they needed to stay overnight. It was Friday night now Saturday morning so she had nothing to worry about. Tanya said she could and wished them well. After hanging up, she called her mum and asked her to bring her clothes and such. Her mother was fortunately still awake and complied.

A half hour later, her mum arrived with her stuff. Tanya quickly ran into the bathroom and changed into fuzzy blue pyjama pants with snowflakes and an oversized t-shirt she got when volunteering at the humane society. Tanya brushed and flossed her teeth and made a beeline for the couch then stopped. She needed to make sure that the doors were locked. Front? Check. Back? Check. French doors in the kitchen? She looked out and saw a teenage boy with white hair carrying a staff sitting in the tree by the door.


	2. Chapter 2

_**I am so so so so so sorry for not updating! Inexcusable really. I had an AP exam that I had to study for and after that just regular exams then I went to Costa Rica and now I'm in Australia visiting family and I've just totally forgotten about this. Sorry! Anyway, the update's here now and I'll be updating all my fanfictions so watch out! Thanks for sticking with me! Also, I just bought all three of the Guardians books and have finished the first two while working on the third. Can't wait to buy the Guardians of Childhood series.**_

Tanya looked at him for a second and blinked. He was gone.

_Must've been a figment of my imagination _she thought. She turned off the lights and went to sleep on the couch.

**Jack POV (3****rd**** Person)**

Her eyes got wide when she saw him. Not wanting to scare her, he hid behind the tree when she blinked. The light from the kitchen went out and he knew she wrote him off.

___This doesn't make any sense. She doesn't believe in me. Or maybe that's the effect Pitch had on her _he thought. Then Jack smiled. Pitch made her believe, intentional or not! Tonight, he gained a believer! And a teenage one at that. So rare to find a teen who believed. He couldn't wait to rub it in Bunny's face. Jack flew off to tell him.

**Tanya's POV (3****rd**** Person)**

She woke up that morning to the sound of Spongebob laughing.

'Adam?' Tanya asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

'Morning.' Adam replied cheerfully, smiling at her.

'Why didn't you wake me up?' Tanya asked, sitting up and grabbing her phone.

'You looked tired.' Adam said simply.

'Did you eat breakfast?' She asked, opening up the text from Mr Bridge.

'Ummm… I ate some Nutter Butters?' Adam said in a quiet, innocent voice.

'You what?' Tanya replied sternly, putting down her phone. 'Adam, just wake me up. I can get breakfast for you.' However, on further inspection of the kitchen, she found there wasn't enough milk for cereal and they were out of breakfast bars. 'So kid, which fruit do you want?'

'Can I have an orange?' Adam called back.

'Sure.' She replied, peeling the orange and putting it in a bowl. She grabbed a banana for herself and brought the fruit into the living room. Upon checking her phone, she saw a text from Mr Bridge saying they'd be home at 11:30. She checked the time and saw she still had an hour and a half left. After blacking out her phone, she proceeded to peel the banana upside down. Adam giggled at her.

'Did you know that this is how monkeys peel their bananas?' Tanya asked, taking a bite.

'You're not a monkey though!' Adam replied with a giggle. She took another bite.

'You sure about that buddy?' She replied with a smirk, eating some more of her banana.

'Umm… yeah?' He said with a smile. She took a bite and shook her head. He giggled and nodded. She took the last bite and shook her head again. Adam laughed at her gaily.

'If I'm not a monkey, how could I do this?' Tanya asked. Tucking in her shirt, she did a handstand and proceeded to walk around on her hands. Adam laughed again and tried but fell over. She quickly flipped upright and went up to him.

'You okay?' She asked. Adam nodded. 'Well, you're obviously not a monkey.' He stuck his tongue out at her and she did the same back, picking up the bowl and peel, and going to the kitchen. She threw out the peel and washed the bowl. After that, she got changed into the jeans she wore yesterday and a green long sleeved shirt. Adam and Tanya watched TV until his parents came back, baby in tow. Mr Bridge handed her a $50 bill and thanked her repeatedly for staying overnight on such short notice.

'It wasn't a problem at all.' She reassured him. She grabbed her stuff and put on her boots and parka.

'Do you want a ride?' Mrs Bridge asked.

'No thanks. I prefer walking. Bye!' She said, exiting the house. She started for her house and was halfway there when a snowball hit the back of her neck, making snow dribble down her back. She tensed up, breathing in sharply, and whipped around. No one. She turned to start walking and slammed into someone.

'Oh man! I'm sorry.' She quickly replied, looking up into the pale face of a boy her age, maybe a year or two older, with icy blue eyes and dyed(?) white hair. She swore she'd seen him before.

'It's cool. I suppose you looked behind you to see who threw that snowball.' He replied with a smirk. She gaped at him.

'You? But how did you get here without me seeing?' Tanya sputtered, turning to look behind her then at him.

'I move pretty fast. Jack. Jack Frost.' He said, holding out a hand.

'As in the winter sprite?' She replied, shaking it.

'As in I am the winter sprite.' He smoothly said with a smirk. She looked at him wide eyed and stepped back, noticing his clothes. Old brown pants, a blue hoodie, and no shoes? In this weather?

'This isn't possible. This stuff doesn't happen.' She said, trying to comprehend this. A legend come to life?

'You wound me Tanya.' He replied in a mock hurt tone.

'How do you know my name and how is this possible?' Tanya said, gesturing to him then the sky.

'Adam told me yesterday and that's a story for another day.' Jack replied, becoming awkward suddenly. He quickly recovered.

'But Adam says only people who believe can see you. But I haven't believed in this kind of stuff since I was 10. Why now?'

'Yesterday, you told Adam that if he believed I was real, I probably was. I talked to Bunny about it and he said that if a teen accepts the possibility, they're half way to believing. I think the final push was Pitch visiting you last night.' Jack explained. Tanya tensed up when he mentioned Pitch and took a sudden interest in her shoes. 'How bad was the nightmare?' he questioned, concern lining his voice. He leaned down and moved her face up to look her in the eyes.

'Pretty bad.' She replied with a little laugh. 'But, never mind that. Who's Bunny?' Jack smiled at her and drew back.

'The Easter Bunny of course!' he laughed.

'He exists too?! Does that mean Santa and the Sandman and the Tooth Faerie-'

'They do too.' Jack interrupted. He flew up into the air to sit on a tree branch.

'Who'd have thought?' Tanya muttered. Then, she seemed to remember something and started walking again.

'Hey! Where are you going?' Jack yelled, flying beside her.

'I've gotta finish this chapter for my AP history class for Monday. Not everyone can afford to spend our Saturdays causing mischief.' She smirked.

'That's what Sundays are for gingy!' he whined, ruffling her hair.

'Gingy? Creative really.' She said sarcastically, glaring at him and sticking her tongue out at him.

'Come on gingy! Stay outside and be a kid! Have a snowball fight or something!' He whined at her, tugging her back like a five year old. She looked at him in defiance and he gave her a puppy dog look. She sighed in defeat and nodded. Jack looked at her eagerly and dragged her in the opposite direction toward the park.


End file.
